This is a 3-part sermon series by John MacArthur that talks about the doctrine of Divine Election from a Biblical standpoint. He starts out by listing all the criticisms that Christian teachers have with this doctrine and admits that he himself sometimes has trouble understanding it; but it's clearly taught in Scripture and is not something that we can easily dismiss. (Each part is about 55 minutes long.)

In short, the doctrine of Election states that we, as a fallen people, are incapable of finding Salvation without direct intervention from GOD Himself. Thus, belief is not something that we arrive at by our own intellectual means and it is not something that we are convinced of by empirical evidence. Belief is a gift from GOD and GOD only grants that gift to those He has chosen. However, GOD doesn't simply choose those of us who choose Him first, GOD chose each of us before the creation of the universe.

This means that Salvation is 100% a work of GOD and is not GOD's reward to us for something that we did. It also eliminates any possibility of self-congratulatory boasting on our part.

For those of you who are strongly opposed to this doctrine, I would ask that you simply listen to all three parts before criticizing, because he may address whatever concerns you may have in one of the sermons. I know that many are going to claim that Divine Election is unfair, unjust, or makes GOD out to be a monster, but MacArthur addresses all of that in these sermons.